Giant Vuitton trunk gets heave-ho from Red Square

Nov. 27, 2013
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A giant Louis Vuitton trunk on Red Square in Moscow was ordered removed Nov. 27, 2013, a day after the temporary pavilion was erected for a planned luggage show by the French fashion house. / Sergei Ilnitsky, EPA

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

After a swift and loud public "nyet," Russian officials have sent a gigantic Louis Vuitton promotional suitcase packing from Moscow's historic Red Square.

Just a day after workers finished installing the 30-foot-tall, 100-foot-long temporary structure, the capital's mayor ordered crews to dismantle it Wednesday. The pavilion was to have hosted a six-week exhibition of the French fashion house's luxury luggage as part of the 120th anniversary celebration of Moscow's GUM department store.

The backlash, from ordinary Muscovites and Russian authorities alike, was immediate. Lawmakers called it an "obscenity," and President Vladimir Putin reportedly hated the excess baggage, though his spokesman said the Kremlin had issued no "written instructions" to haul it away, the Interfax news agency reported.

The designers "obviously lacked a sense of proportion," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Vuitton chose Red Square because of its "deep emotional relationship" with Russia - but apparently misread Russians' emotional attachment to the monumental expanse.

"This is a sacred place for the Russian state," Sergei Obukhov, a Communist Party Central Committee member, told RIA Novosti. "There are some symbols that cannot be trivialized or denigrated, because the future of the government depends on it."

Said one Moscow retiree, waving his arms, "This is an embarrassment for our country. We sell ourselves to everybody. All we think about is business, business, business."

A Russian journalist wrote on Facebook that the big box was actually a "new mausoleum" that Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev would take turns lying in, a wry reference to the nearby tomb of Vladimir Lenin.

But all may not be lost for the unloved luggage, according to RIA Novosti. Two of Moscow's largest parks - Gorky Park and the All-Russia Exhibition Center - are interested in hosting the "Soul of Travel" exhibition, a non-profit show to raise money for supermodel Natalia Vodianova's charity project, the Naked Heart Foundation.